Chapter 127: Chaos
With a thunderous crash, Zeus suddenly intensified his power. The hero who had held up the sky could endure no longer and collapsed, smashing into the ground. Blood sprayed from his body like a fountain.
Yet the great hero only lay there, staring at that person as if his ribs had not already turned to dust, laughing wildly and loudly.
"Mr. Rowe, do you see it!"
"Teacher Chiron, do you see it!"
"I succeeded!"
Did they see it?
Of course they did.
In the cave on Mount Pelion, the centaur who had taught heroes to walk straight through tragedy gazed from afar and smiled. Heracles had not only walked the road he chose for himself, he had also, as Chiron once wished, resisted the tragedy of fate.
Magnificent.
Robust.
"Magnificent," Chiron murmured, the praise quiet and unshakable.
Above Heracles's head, Rowe's machina god body stood like a pillar. The gravity that had pressed down like a divine palm suddenly lost its shape and collapsed, as if the sky itself had been forced to loosen its grip.
From that impossibly high dimension, Zeus's gaze tightened.
A surprised sound escaped him.
"You succeeded? Wait…"
His surprise snapped into recognition.
"Motherfucker, so it was you!"
"It was you, you bastard!"
Zeus erupted, because in this moment he finally truly stared at Rowe's figure. He finally pierced through that cold machina shell and saw the truth inside it.
A young man in a long robe woven from linen.
Black hair, black eyes.
The same person Zeus had met once, and fought once, in the Imaginary Number Space.
"It's me." Rowe raised his head. Lightning reflected in his eyes, and he smiled with alarming clarity. "You swear pretty well, you bastard."
"I learned it from you, motherfucker," Zeus spat.
Now he understood.
It was this man.
If it was this man, then everything made sense. Their encounter in the Imaginary Number Space had been brief, yet Zeus had already tasted his opponent's cunning.
"I let you escape before, but now that you have come to Greece, to the territory I rule, I will not let you go again."
Lightning from the highest heaven flashed and fell. Wind, cloud, and rain followed like a decree.
All things trembled. Even the stars seemed to quiver.
The Aegean Sea heaved in layered waves.
The earth shook. Mountains groaned.
With the authority of the King of the Gods, Zeus dominated heaven, earth, sea, and underworld.
He wanted Rowe dead.
Completely.
With no restraint.
And under that power, even Rowe, who had integrated the power of the Greek gods, could not truly resist.
Because the God King's unified power, the machine bodies of the Twelve Olympians fused into one, his grasp over the world, had always been above these Greek gods who had lost their machina bodies and were far weaker than in their prime.
Then the world tilted.
At the junction where the Underworld of Uruk met the Underworld of Greece, a gate opened.
An ethereal blue, brilliant Star Boat streaked through with dazzling light, trailing a shadow dark and profound. It carried the King of Uruk's Underworld like a blade drawn from a sheath.
At the same moment, in Uruk City in Greece, the saint left her palace.
Barefoot, Enkidu stepped forward. One step, then another, walking straight toward the sea.
At the border of the Underworld, Hades, handsome and serene, lifted the crown in his hand and placed it upon the newcomer.
Above the surging sea, Poseidon, pure and flawless, extended the scepter that governed the waters and handed it to the approaching Enkidu.
Hades said, "I bestow the authority of the Underworld upon my friend, Gilgamesh. From this moment on, he is the King of the Greek Underworld."
Poseidon said, "I bestow the authority of the sea upon my friend, Enkidu. From this moment on, she is the Queen of the Greek Aegean Sea."
Athena's voice followed, clean as steel.
"Agreed."
Apollo's voice followed, grave as a vow.
"Agreed."
Queen Hera hesitated, unwilling. Yet in the end, faced with Zeus's violently self centered nature, she opened her mouth.
"Agreed."
One by one, the Greek gods declared their agreement.
"AHAHAHA." Rampant laughter rolled through the Underworld. Gilgamesh, holding dual authority as Underworld King, quelled the tremors below with a lazy dominance. "It has been a long time. So even this King's courtyard was stolen by that arrogant and conceited fellow?"
"Sorry," Enkidu said gently, bending down. She dipped her palm into the seawater as if calming a frightened animal. "Be quiet for a moment."
The Aegean Sea fell silent.
No longer turbulent.
No longer raging.
Then Gilgamesh and Enkidu lifted their gazes to the sky at the same time.
"Sure enough, you are all goddamn traitors." Zeus did not sound surprised. He did not even sound angry. He simply cursed, as if this had been decided long ago. "But it is useless. The authority of earth and sea is absolutely insufficient to contend with me."
"You are."
"They are."
"And they are even more so."
"I will kill you all."
"And then I will remake this world."
He said it, and he meant it.
Yet even so, once all the Greek gods had approved, Zeus could not stop the transfer of the positions of Sea King and Underworld King.
Zeus transcended them in power, but in status the King of the Heavens, the Sea King, and the Underworld King were equals.
As long as all the Greek gods agreed, the transfer would happen.
"No, I do not agree."
A clear voice suddenly cut through the declarations.
"Letting a bunch of stupid mortals become the God King. What a joke."
Rowe froze.
Gilgamesh narrowed his eyes.
Enkidu's robes fluttered without wind as she looked toward the speaker.
Crimson hair spilled like fire. A plain white dress could not conceal the exquisite fullness of a body that seemed sculpted to be worshipped.
Aphrodite.
The Goddess of Love stared with naked disgust.
"King of the Gods, I oppose humans stealing the God King's seat."
"Because they are unworthy."
"In my eyes, only we, the Greek gods from Atlantis, are qualified to seize this power."
Aphrodite was proud.
She looked down on humanity with the effortless cruelty of beauty that had never been refused.
So even if all the Greek gods had been forced onto Rowe's side, she still stood here, unwavering, supporting Zeus.
This was not opportunism.
It was dignity.
A god's love was love of the self.
A proud love.
"You are good, Aphrodite," Zeus said, and smiled.
Then his smile sharpened.
"I will bestow eternity upon you here."
"Thank you, God King, but I do not need…" Aphrodite's voice broke.
A bolt of lightning pierced her body.
"Your eternity," Zeus said, "is eternal disappearance."
Zeus personally killed the sole dissenter.
Thus, the authority of earth and sea transferred instantly.
With no obstruction.
Because Hades's personality had originated from Gilgamesh, and Poseidon's personality had originated from Enkidu.
The Underworld and sea had long since grown accustomed to their aura.
Zeus showed no hesitation.
No regret.
"Damn it. Cast aside when not wanted, seek refuge when wanted. I am the King of the Gods. I am the God King."
"Is that so…" Aphrodite looked at her fading body and only smiled, beautiful to the end. "To die at the hands of the King of the Gods, rather than at the hands of lowly humans."
"This is eternal beauty."
The Goddess of Love and Beauty remained proud until her last breath.
Apollo fell silent.
Athena disliked Aphrodite, yet still felt a faint sorrow for a kindred existence.
The God of Fire looked even more complex.
Queen Hera only sneered, as if she had expected this cruelty from the start.
The gods reacted differently.
But Zeus only wanted to unleash lightning again.
Because he was the God King.
The God of Gods who could not be defied.
"No," Rowe said, shaking his head.
He faced the incoming lightning, the falling brilliance, and spoke with a calm that cut deeper than anger.
"You are not."
"The transfer of the Sea King and Underworld King is complete. Next, it is time for the final King of the Heavens."
The transfer of Sea King and Underworld King required the approval of the Greek gods.
The King of the Heavens was theoretically equal to them, yet the sky encompassed earth and sea and was, in essence, above them.
So Rowe asked.
He asked the Greek gods.
And he asked The People.
"Decide the destiny of the sky."
At that instant, countless figures appeared in Rowe's eyes, as if reflected in a mirror made of sparks.
The People around the Aegean Sea.
Men and women.
Old and young.
Children and youths.
The King of the Sky would be chosen by them all.
And their choice was humanity.
The masters of all things were humans themselves.
They longed for life and death to be in their own hands, and the sky was no different.
Rowe reached out and donned the crown of the sky.
Because he was also human.
And the wisdom of The People had long since converged within him.
This was preparation made long ago.
A plan made long ago.
Zeus stared, stunned, as his position of authority was forcibly stripped away.
The status of King of the Heavens disappeared, as if a title had been ripped from the world's ledger.
A god's divinity came from nature, but a god's personality came from the faith of living beings. Moreover, Rowe, in this body, was the former Cronus, who had once been the King of the Heavens. He naturally held the qualification to replace that seat.
So Zeus, King of the Gods, was stripped of his authority over the sky.
His title no longer matched reality.
Yet Zeus remained terrifyingly powerful.
Even now, the Greek gods in heaven, on earth, in sea, and in underworld were still no match for him.
Because his power stemmed from being Zeus.
Not from being King of the Heavens.
Zeus tried to calm himself.
But the agitation only swelled, sharper and more frantic, because he realized something else.
Behind him.
Above him.
Higher and more distant than even he could reach.
Light appeared.
It was not lightning.
It was the opening of something older than thunder.
A voice that was not a voice, a transmission that was not meant for human ears.
'Twelve starships integrated.'
'Fleet flagship Cronus. Correction. Fleet flagship Rowe. Transmitting information to core. Complete.'
'Grand main ship Chaos. Activation successful.'
Buzz.
Behind Zeus, beyond the heavens, within the vast sea of stars, myriad lights swirled like a vortex of clouds.
At the center, a furnace like eye slowly opened.
Chaos.
The origin of the Atlantis Greek gods.
A Stellar class Celestial Sphere spacetime fortress.
The most ancient machina god.
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